Houston-based Cadence Bancorp. and Atlanta’s State Bank Financial Corp. on Sunday said they agreed to a stock-for-stock merger in a deal valued at around $1.4 billion to create a combined company boasting $16 billion in assets and locations all across the South.

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. has made a $3.3 billion bid to buy Herbert Smith Freehills LLP-counseled Healthscope Ltd., topping an offer the company received in April, according to an announcement on Monday from Australia hospital operator Healthscope.

Xerox announced Sunday that it will no longer pursue its $6.1 billion combination with Fuji and that it inked a new settlement agreement with activist investor Carl Icahn and fellow Xerox shareholder Darwin Deason, marking an end to a contentious battle over the now-dead transaction.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission member Hester Peirce on Friday delivered a sharp rebuke of her agency’s past enforcement practices, particularly the “broken windows” approach of punishing small infractions, as she called on the regulator to police the markets with a lighter and more "calibrated" touch.

The NFL’s Carolina Panthers could reportedly be sold to billionaire David Tepper, Emirati sovereign wealth fund Mubadala is having a hard time selling a Swiss private bank, and China’s Ant Financial may secure $10 billion in funding in the next few days.

The U.S. activist hedge fund Elliott Associates LP is seeking at least $670 million from South Korea over its decision to back the $8 billion merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015, according to documents released by the country's Ministry of Justice on Friday.

A government agency in India and a national bank claiming it was defrauded by billionaire Nirav Modi are seeking to postpone the sale of Modi's insolvent U.S. jewelry businesses, citing their apparent connections to the fraud as well as failed efforts to garner substantial interest from bidders.

Irish pharmaceutical company Shire PLC lost a bid Friday to shut down a Delaware Chancery Court contract breach suit demanding an overdue $45 million drug development “milestone” payment, filed by the post-merger representatives of the drug’s original owner.

A Delaware vice chancellor on Thursday tossed most claims against a coal business manager and two other men who are accused of usurping an investment firm's right to bid for a coal tract owned by now-bankrupt U.S. Coal, but he kept alive breach of contract and equitable relief claims.

Abbott Laboratories successfully argued to have part of a suit over settlement payments made from a $36 million indemnity escrow fund dismissed Friday, but a Delaware judge left the door open for the complaint against Abbott to be amended in the future to address potential contract breach claims.

In this week’s Taxation with Representation, Takeda snapped up Shire for $62 billion, Vodafone bought a portion of Liberty Global’s European business for $21 billion, Nestle SA spent $7.1 billion on the marketing, sale and distribution rights for most of Starbucks’ retail and grocery store items and International Flavors and Fragrances acquired Frutarom for $7.1 billion.

A unit of funds managed by Silver Lake agreed to take the United Kingdom's ZPG private in a deal that values all of the online property portal owner's shares at roughly £2.2 billion ($3 billion), the companies said in a filing on the London Stock Exchange on Friday.

With so much mergers and acquisitions news this week, you may have missed several deals announced in recent days helmed by firms such as Gibson Dunn and Baker Botts. Here, Law360 recaps the ones you might have missed.

Morrison & Foerster LLP’s long-standing relationship with Japan’s SoftBank dovetailed into its role advising Sprint, landing the firm at the helm of the U.S. wireless carrier’s much-anticipated $59 billion combination with rival T-Mobile and the regulatory hurdles that are sure to follow.

Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday unloaded its stake in a crude oil pipeline company to its master limited partnership Shell Midstream Partners LP in a drop-down deal worth $1.22 billion, the second major divestment made by the oil giant in the last three days.

Akerman LLP has grown the ranks of its corporate practice with its latest hire, picking up a former Fox Rothschild LLP partner and 30-year legal veteran specializing in various mergers and acquisitions and private equity matters.

Creditors are reportedly pushing Odebrecht to sell its commuter rail unit, Volvo Cars’ owner has hired banks to guide an initial public offering and Minto Group wants to raise roughly CA$200 million in an IPO.

Activist investor Carl Icahn and fellow top Xerox shareholder Darwin Deason on Thursday called the company’s board “delusional” in a letter blasting Xerox’s top brass over their “unconscionable attempt” to put their own interests first and paint the anticipated $6.1 billion Fuji deal as the result of a healthy mergers and acquisitions process.

Toys R Us Inc. received court approval Thursday to implement proposed real estate bidding and sale procedures as it liquidates its business in the U.S., putting in place a timeline for the retail giant to sell its ownership or lease interests at close to 275 locations by the end of June.

Expert Analysis

The U.S. Trade Representative recently alleged that China has engaged in theft of trade secrets, cyber intrusions and creation of unfair barriers to entry in China. In response, the Trump administration may be exploring options for executive branch action under the authorities of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, say attorneys with Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act significantly changed income tax laws for individuals and business entities. Attorneys at Nixon Peabody LLP map out the provisions that will impact the private equity industry, including managers, investors and portfolio companies.

Guidance posted by the Federal Trade Commission last month confirms that the FTC is just as concerned about how parties negotiate deals as it is about whether those deals are substantively anti-competitive, say attorneys with Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.

When considered together with the new corporate tax rate and other applicable rules in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Section 1202 exemption may enable private equity firms focused on lower-middle-market deals to put more cash in partners’ pockets, says Frank Cordero of Akerman LLP.

Although the lack of racial and gender diversity among the ranks of the majority of both midsized and top law firms is a major issue, it’s past time to shed light on the real problem — inclusion, or lack thereof, says Marlen Whitley of Reed Smith LLP.

Despite the Trump administration's desire to shut down the Legal Services Corp., thankfully the budget that Congress passed and the president signed into law last week has restored $410 million of funding to the legal aid organization. An unlikely brief for preserving LSC may be found in the quirky Denzel Washington film "Roman J. Israel, Esq.," says Kevin Curnin, immediate past president of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel.

The advent of blockchain technology and its future utilization in the securities industry present the possibility for the tracing of ownership and votes of shares of corporations being acquired. Appraisal arbitrageurs may need to evaluate the continuing attractiveness of their investment strategy as a result, say attorneys with Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP.

In order to enable lawyers to best meet cybersecurity challenges, state bars should pass rules that adopt a cybersecurity framework to be developed by a national committee, says Shaun Jamison, associate dean of faculty and professor at Purdue University's Concord Law School.

To many young attorneys, becoming an equity partner shows a firm's long-term commitment, meaning job security and a voice in important firm matters. However, the industry has changed and nowadays it may not be better to enter a new firm as an equity partner, says Jeffrey Liebster of Major Lindsey & Africa.

In his new book, "Without Precedent: Chief Justice John Marshall and His Times," professor Joel Richard Paul ably explains more than a dozen of Marshall’s most significant opinions, which comes as no surprise​. ​What is a surprise — a pleasant one — is the book's readability, says Judge Thomas Hardiman of the Third Circuit.

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